TechCrunch recently highlighted how Google is changing their ad labeling on mobile devices.
A few big changes include:
An example of the new layout is here:
Granular Panda
Reading the tea leaves on the pre-announced Google "helpful content" update it sounds like a second and perhaps more granular version of Panda which can take in additional signals, including how unique the page level content is & the language structure on the pages.
Like Panda, the algorithm will update periodically across time & impact websites on a sitewide basis.
Cold Hot Takes
Time has grown more scarce after having a child, so I rarely blog anymore. Though I thought it probably made sense to make at least a quarterly(ish) post so people know I still exist.
One of the big things I have been noticing over the past year or so is an increasing level of automation in ways that are not particularly brilliant. :D
Just from this past week I've had 3 treat encounters on this front.
Kent Walker promotes public policies which advantage the Google monopoly.
His role doing that means he has to write some really bad hot takes that lack context or intentionally & dishonestly redirect attention away from core issues - that's his job.
With that in mind, his most recent blog post defending the Google monopoly was exceptional.
Force Ranking of Inferior Search Results
Background / Intro
On Wednesday SEMrush priced their IPO at $14 a share & listed Thursday.
My initial attraction toward SEO and the web was largely that it was like a new and parallel world that bypassed many traditional gatekeepers.
I wrote an ebook which originally had inconsistent formatting and it was riddled with spelling and grammar errors. I learned to write by writing poorly and often while reading great writers daily.
Ultimately it did not matter that my efforts were subpar on some fronts as few people read early copies, and I was receptive to feedback on how to improve it and rapidly did.
Google, Google, Google
For well over a decade Google has dominated search to where most stories in the search sphere were about Google or something on the periphery.
In 2019 Google generated $134.81 billion in ad revenues.
When Verizon bought core Yahoo three years ago the final purchase price was $4.48 billion. That amount was to own their finance vertical, news vertical, web portal, homepage, email & web search. It also included a variety of other services like Tumblr.
This year is a rather easy year to be depressed. ;)
Late Funnel SEO Profits
Before the Panda update SEOs could easily focus almost all their energies on late funnel high-intent searches which were easy to monetize without needing to put a ton of effort into brand building or earlier funnel informational searches. This meant that SEOs could focus on phrases like [student credit cards] or [buy earbuds] or [best computer gaming headphones] or [vertical computer mouse] without needing to worry much about anything else. Make a good enough page on those topics, segment demand across options, and profit.
